Motivating people

In small enterprises, entrepreneurs deal with their people directly on a daily basis. There are very few layers of commands, perhaps one or two. It is essential, therefore, that entrepreneurs master the art of motivating people who are, needless to say, very complex beings. Finding out what motivates them to do anything is a life-long endeavor. There is no one theory, framework, or model that can explain people motivation. At best, all we can do is infer motivation from the day-to-day contact that people have with one another. These daily contacts allow us to postulate some basic concepts on how to motivate people.

Pleasure And Pain

The most basic concept of motivation is probably what we initially learn from new-born babies and children. They cry when they experience any form of pain such as hunger, heat, wetting, a pin prick, or a loud noise. They seem contented enough as they sleep. They even smile when we try to amuse them. Breastfeeding or drinking milk gives them ultimate pleasure.

Thus, the full range or continuum from extreme pain to extreme pleasure is certainly one fundamental concept we can use to understand people motivation.

Entrepreneurs know what gives pleasure to people: pesos, praises, promotions, power, participation. They know the formula for pain: penalties, prejudice, pressure, and punishment.

Preference And Abhorrence

From the physical level of pleasure and pain, individuals begin to develop mental and emotional preference or abhorrence for certain people, things, ideas, and activities. People begin to "program" themselves, saying "I prefer to be with people" or "I prefer to be alone". This is the classic dichotomy between the extrovert and the introvert. The reverse of a preference statement is, of course, an abhorrence statement.

As people "program" their likes and dislikes (or, according to some theories, are programmed genetically), their personalities develop. Some prefer to think in a very logical, sequential and rational way (otherwise known as left brain thinking) while others prefer to "trust their intuition" or "follow their heart" in the right brain mode. Some people are generally "thinkers" and some are generally "feelers".

Some people want a very ordered life, fully programmed and well-timed. They have a preference for things that are "nice and neat". They abhor chaos, uncertainty, and untidy rooms. Others don’t have any sense of time at all. They live in a very unstructured, free-flowing world. They love freedom and spontaneity.

In order to motivate people, one has to understand what they prefer or abhor to do at the mental and emotional plane. Entrepreneurs must profile their people well in terms of who they are and what turns them on or off.

Aspirations And Deprivations

A third approach to understanding people motivation is to examine their aspirations and deprivations.

Aspirations deal with the wants, yearnings, and desires of people. In essence, they dwell on the cravings of the human spirit, in contrast to the physical, mental, and emotional context of the first two motivational concepts discussed earlier. Human aspirations have a wide range–from the desire to have more power to the search for unparalleled fame, from the tangible accumulation of assets to the attainment of abstract ideals such as freedom, peace, justice, and equality.

Deprivations are human voids that must be filled or human needs that must be met. Deprivations can range from satisfying basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing to filling spiritual voids such as lack of purpose, meaninglessness, and insignificance.

Human aspirations allow the spirit to soar. Great feats are accomplished in the name of lofty ideals. Human deprivations rob the spirit of its energy, reducing people to animals or automatons. They bring out the worst in people. Entrepreneurs must be sensitive to what their people dream of and what they despair on.

To summarize, the three motivational planes are (1) physical, (2) mental and emotional, and (3) spiritual. The physical range goes from the negative pole of pain to the positive pole of pleasure. The mental and emotional plane swings from the negative pole of abhorrence to the positive pole of preference. The spiritual plane starts from the negative pole of deprivations and ends with the positive pole of aspirations.

(Eduardo A. Morato, Jr. is on the faculty of the W. SyCip Graduate School of Business of the Asian Institute of Management. For comments and inquiries, you may contact him at: [email protected]. Published "Entrepreneur’s Helpline" columns can be viewed on the AIM website at http//: www.aim.edu.ph).